Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > New Mexico
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 06-21-2011, 02:43 PM
 
3,061 posts, read 8,332,469 times
Reputation: 1948

Advertisements

We've got lots of beaches, just no oceans to go with them. LOL
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 06-21-2011, 02:55 PM
 
1,569 posts, read 3,393,746 times
Reputation: 943
Quote:
Originally Posted by AlisonL View Post
We've got lots of beaches, just no oceans to go with them. LOL
I live on one. Or at least a large riverbed since I keep digging up tons of rock out of my new garden beds and some of it is obviously river rock.

I get tired of "how can you stand the heat?" ahhh...I live in the mountains at 7,000 elevation? When I moved here my mother asked if I was leaving the USA. I think people only hear the word "Mexico."

It's not a place I ever learned about in history class yet the history here is very interesting and an important part of USA history. Hopefully that has changed.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-21-2011, 03:29 PM
 
Location: Omaha, NE
163 posts, read 375,244 times
Reputation: 183
What has always perplexed me is that most people acknowledge that there are 50 states. If they feel New Mexico is not a state, what do they think is a state instead of it? I've heard DC and Puerto Rico included, but I never understood the plain ignorance.

I will second the idea of a lack of geographical education being a factor. I can't remember learning about New Mexico at all in any history class. The closest I ever got was a little key puzzle I had as a child with all 50 states, with each state having a little doodle or character on it-- New Mexico had a little UFO on it.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-21-2011, 03:56 PM
 
72,805 posts, read 62,121,069 times
Reputation: 21763
Quote:
Originally Posted by ManOnTheMoon View Post
What has always perplexed me is that most people acknowledge that there are 50 states. If they feel New Mexico is not a state, what do they think is a state instead of it? I've heard DC and Puerto Rico included, but I never understood the plain ignorance.

I will second the idea of a lack of geographical education being a factor. I can't remember learning about New Mexico at all in any history class. The closest I ever got was a little key puzzle I had as a child with all 50 states, with each state having a little doodle or character on it-- New Mexico had a little UFO on it.
I don't know why geography isn't being taught more in the schools, but it isn't. I remember reading about New Mexico in the 3rd grade. My teacher, as much as she taught us some good things, geography wasn't the strong point. I read about New Mexico, along with the rest of the 50 states on my own. I went to the library and checked out encyclopedias, and read about the states in them. I read about New Mexico and it sounded like an interesting place to me, with the cliffs, the desert, Roswell, Gallup, adobe buildings, turquoise jewelry, Spanish and Native American culture, and some other things. I also learned the capitals of all 50 states in the USA. I learned this in the 3rd grade. My teacher was amazed that I was learning this.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-21-2011, 03:56 PM
 
Location: 5,400 feet
4,817 posts, read 4,719,828 times
Reputation: 7825
Quote:
Originally Posted by MissNM View Post
My husband and I used to RV. At one park, we had a neighbor who kept telling us how much she loved the beaches in New Mexico. No matter how many times we tried to explain it, she couldn't get it.

Maybe she's been to Tingley Beach?
100 million years ago, we had beaches and the water to go with them. Maybe she was just older than she looked.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-21-2011, 11:20 PM
 
Location: WA
5,298 posts, read 7,588,007 times
Reputation: 8235
It's not just NM. I lived in Juneau AK for 10 years and worked in an office building that was close to the downtown cruise ship docks which would disgorge tens of thousands of tourists daily from May through Sept. Among the kinds of questions I would get asked by American tourists in their matching sweats if I was out of the office on my lunch break would be the following:

Where can I change my money?
How much does it cost to send international mail back to the states?
Do youu know how much it costs to call the states?
Do American cell phones work here?
Do American credit cards work here?
Do they take dollars here?
What is the elevation here? (Juneau is a seaport and they just got off a cruise ship!!)

Oh and most funny. I was traveling on a business trip to Washington DC with a co-worker who was in fact Canadian but living in Alaska on a green card. When a woman asked us where we were from and we told her she responded "Alaska! Oh, you must be Canadian then!". To which my co-worker gleefully responded "yes of course!" to the confusion of everyone else in the room.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-21-2011, 11:41 PM
 
Location: Omaha, NE
163 posts, read 375,244 times
Reputation: 183
Quote:
Originally Posted by texasdiver View Post
It's not just NM. I lived in Juneau AK for 10 years and worked in an office building that was close to the downtown cruise ship docks which would disgorge tens of thousands of tourists daily from May through Sept. Among the kinds of questions I would get asked by American tourists in their matching sweats if I was out of the office on my lunch break would be the following:

Where can I change my money?
How much does it cost to send international mail back to the states?
Do youu know how much it costs to call the states?
Do American cell phones work here?
Do American credit cards work here?
Do they take dollars here?
What is the elevation here? (Juneau is a seaport and they just got off a cruise ship!!)

Oh and most funny. I was traveling on a business trip to Washington DC with a co-worker who was in fact Canadian but living in Alaska on a green card. When a woman asked us where we were from and we told her she responded "Alaska! Oh, you must be Canadian then!". To which my co-worker gleefully responded "yes of course!" to the confusion of everyone else in the room.
Don't forget, Alaska is also an island, north of Hawaii. At least according to most US maps.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-22-2011, 12:40 AM
 
Location: Metromess
11,798 posts, read 25,085,235 times
Reputation: 5219
Well, I've heard of Unalaska Island before, in the Aleutians.

I was always crazy about maps. I can spend hours looking at a good atlas, especially one of those beautiful library ones which have elevation countour lines. I've got one, and it's beautiful. It shows Questa and Eagle Nest, but not Red River.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-22-2011, 01:28 PM
 
Location: Østenfor sol og vestenfor måne
17,919 posts, read 24,186,018 times
Reputation: 39021
I remember seeing a story on the local news many years ago about geographic ignorance of New Mexico in Mexico.

They did 'man-on-the-street' interviews in Ciudad Juarez (i.e. right near New Mexico) and the one I remember laughing at the most was a restaurant owner who said something to the effect of, "I love New Mexico! One of our most prosperous states!"

What I heard the most after I moved out here was "How is Arizona?" and "You just moved there to become a beach bum!"

Luckily, my parents owned an atlas (not trying to brag or anything but we had a set of encyclopedias, too :-) so from the age of 6 I was aware of the existence and geographic position of every state if not what characterized them.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-22-2011, 01:51 PM
 
72,805 posts, read 62,121,069 times
Reputation: 21763
Quote:
Originally Posted by ABQConvict View Post
I remember seeing a story on the local news many years ago about geographic ignorance of New Mexico in Mexico.

They did 'man-on-the-street' interviews in Ciudad Juarez (i.e. right near New Mexico) and the one I remember laughing at the most was a restaurant owner who said something to the effect of, "I love New Mexico! One of our most prosperous states!"

What I heard the most after I moved out here was "How is Arizona?" and "You just moved there to become a beach bum!"

Luckily, my parents owned an atlas (not trying to brag or anything but we had a set of encyclopedias, too :-) so from the age of 6 I was aware of the existence and geographic position of every state if not what characterized them.
I think one issue is that New Mexico has Arizona, Colorado,Texas, and California to compete with. Some people might think New Mexico is actually Mexico. Other than geographical ignorance, I would say New Mexico might be treated as flyover territory, as in, you go through it rather than to it. Alot of people want to go to Phoenix, LA, the mountains of Colorado, or Texas. New Mexico, as far as I know, is sort of forgotten. Most people who think of New Mexico either think of Mexico, or Roswell.

Things to see in New Mexico:

Sandia Mountains
Gallup(all those air balloons)
Albuquerque(the largest city)
Santa Fe(oldest city in the west and home to the oldest church structure in the nation, San Miguel Chapel)
Sangre de Cristo Mountains
Zia Pueblo
White Sands National Monument

And this is just a sample.
Acoma Pueblo
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:




Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > New Mexico

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top